VCOM Research Day Program Book 2023

Program Moderator

James E. Mahaney, PhD Associate Dean of Biomedical Affairs & Research Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

In 2008, Dr. Mahaney became the Associate Dean for Biomedical Affairs and Research and shifted his focus to managing the Biomedical Division for VCOM and promoting research for all research active faculty on the Virginia campus. He also works to create opportunities for increased medical student involvement in research and encourages student participation in a wide variety of settings and projects. Dr. Mahaney is an active member of the Biophysical Society and serves on the Cell Transport and Metabolism grant review group for the National American Heart Association. He also serves as a reviewer for the American Osteopathic Association Research Division. In 2004, he received the VCOM Biomedical Educator Award – Peer Choice, and the VCOM Biomedical Educator Award – Student Choice. In 2009 and again in 2014, Dr. Mahaney received the VCOM Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching from the medical students. In 2012, Dr. Mahaney received the VCOM Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Post Baccalaureate class.

Mahaney combined the biophysical techniques of fluorescence spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy with pre steady state and steady state enzyme kinetics methods. The goal was to correlate specific enzyme dynamic transitions with key steps in calcium transport processes related to cardiac muscle relaxation. Dr. Mahaney’s work at West Virginia University was carried out by four graduate students and twelve undergraduate research students, with the help of a full-time technician. His work was funded by an American Heart Association Established Investigator grant and an American Heart Association Grant-in-Aid, and Dr. Mahaney was a co-investigator on two separate NIH R01 awards. In 2003, Dr. Mahaney moved to Blacksburg, VA and served as the founding Discipline Chair for Biochemistry at VCOM. He continued his research work at VCOM with the help of two additional graduate students and eight undergraduate research students from Virginia Tech. He was also funded with new grants from the American Heart Association and an NIH R15 award.

Dr. Jim Mahaney is Professor and Chair of the Biomedical Sciences Department and serves as the Associate Dean for Biomedical Affairs and Research at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine–Virginia campus. He is also a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Virginia Tech. Dr. Mahaney received his BS degree in Chemistry from Virginia Tech in 1984, and his PhD in Chemistry/ Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Virginia in 1989. He pursued post-doctoral research training in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis from 1989-1994. His first faculty appointment was as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at West Virginia University School of Medicine in 1994, and in 2001 he was granted tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor. During this time, Dr. Mahaney established his independent research program designed to elucidate the molecular mechanism of calcium transport regulation in the heart, focusing on age-based and disease-based changes in calcium transport and its regulation. For this work, Dr.

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